TheIndian EXPRESS LATE CITY, 26 PAGES, NEW DELHI, `6.00 (`8 PATNA & RAIPUR, `12 SRINAGAR) ● FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 ● WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM DAILY FROM: AHMEDABAD, CHANDIGARH, DELHI, JAIPUR, KOLKATA, LUCKNOW, MUMBAI, NAGPUR, PUNE, VADODARA JOURNALISM OF COURAGE SAME-SEX RELATIONS NO LONGER A CRIME — SUPREME COURT AFFIRMS IDENTITY, DIGNITY, EQUALITY & PRIVACY Love at first right SC: History owes apology From explicit No to a qualified Yes: to LGBTQ community for How political class stalled, blinked delay in justice, centuries MANOJ CG & RAVISH TIWARI of ostracism, suffering NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 6 ANANTHAKRISHNAN G BUSINESS AS USUAL NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 6 FROM TODAY, consensual gay sex between adults in private is no longer a crime in India. Delivering a historic judgment Thursday which underlined the supremacy of “constitutional morality” over “societal morality”,theSupremeCourt, in one stroke, scrapped a 158-yearold British-era law that banned same-sex relations between consenting adults in private and punished them with jail terms for life or up to ten years. A five-judge Constitution Bench, comprising Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Justices R F Nariman, A M Khanwilkar, D Y ChandrachudandInduMalhotra, in four separate but concurring orders on a clutch of petitions, decriminalised a part of Section 377of theIndianPenalCode,saying it violated the identity of an BY UNNY TODAY COULD have happened five years ago. Inthewinterof 2013,months aheadof theLokSabhaelections, theSupremeCourthadreversed the landmark 2009 Delhi High Court order that decriminalised same sex between consenting adults in terms similar to Thursday’s verdict. Thehighestcourthadlobbed the ball — or passed the buck depending on which side was speaking — to the political class asking it to legislate a suitable provision for the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community’s demand for decriminalisation of consensual same-sex between adults. Butthepoliticalclassstepped back. ThenCongresspresidentand UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi steppedouttoexpresshopethat “Parliament will address the issue”,butherpartyandgovernment dithered. Then BJP president Rajnath Singh stood in solidarity with the Supreme Courtjudgmentsaying“howcan anyone justify unnatural acts?” Cut to today. The Congress A MOMENT IN HISTORY, 12:42 PM, OUTSIDE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA One of the petitioners in the case, Keshav Suri (right), and his partner Cyril Feuillebois celebrate the Supreme Court verdict reading down the 158-year-old Section 377 that held same-sex relations unnatural and, therefore, criminal. Neeraj Priyadarshi CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 On a street far away, looking at a police car in the eye: ‘Today, I am no criminal’ individual, the right to equality and the right to privacy — the provisionwill,however,continue to apply to cases of bestiality, carnal intercourse with minors and in cases of no consent. Triggering celebrations among members of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 PREMANKUR BISWAS & DIPANKAR GHOSE NEW DELHI, RAIPUR, SEPTEMBER 6 AT 6:30 PM, on Raipur’s Marine drive, the LGBT community collected to celebrate the apex court’s verdict. A group of not more than 20, waving the rainbow flag, cut a cake, and shouted the words “freedom” and“InquilabZindabad.”Asthey hugged, and a same-sex couple kissed, some pedestrians stopped and stared. But on Thursday, it didn’t matter. About 200 m away was a police patrol car that routinely patrols the neighbourhood each day. A member of the celebration pointed to it and said: “Today I am free, because that car, that sign of the Chhattisgarh Police does not scare me. Today I can stare at it proudly, and not walk pastwith my eyeslowered. Today, I am not a criminal.” That sentiment was echoed earlier in the day when the verdictcame,whenagroupof 10 people sat in front of the TV at a government Social Welfare Department hostel, watching CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 SUPREME VERDICT THE EDITORIAL PAGE THE PEOPLE READING THE ORDERS EXPLAINED, WHAT NEXT A SOARING MOMENT: VICTORY FOR INDIVIDUAL, MINORITY RIGHTS, PAGE 14 THOSE WHO SCRIPTED HISTORY: PETITIONERS & THEIR COUNSEL, PAGE 6 HOW ALL JUDGES AGREED BUT EACH HAD A KEY ARGUMENT, PAGE 7 COURT’S NEW MANTRA: CONSTITUTIONAL MORALITY, PAGE 9 KCR dissolves House, EC India-US sign key defence looks at polls with 4 others deal, talk visa and terror 2+2 TALKS SHUBHAJIT ROY NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 6 WORLD, P16 Two Russians named in Skripal poisoning: UK STRENGTHENING STRATEGIC cooperation, India and the US Thursday signed the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA) which paves the way for transferof communicationsecurity equipment from the US to Indiathatwillfacilitate“interoperability”betweentheirforces— and potentially with other militariesthatuseUS-originsystems for secured data links. The pact was inked after the first 2+2 dialogue between the two countries, where External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman met visiting CONTINUED ON PAGE 12 SREENIVAS JANYALA & RITIKA CHOPRA HYDERABAD, NEW DELHI, SEPTEMBER 6 CONFIDENT OF returning to power and to avoid a possible clubbing of Assembly polls with Lok Sabha elections, Telangana Chief MinisterKChandrashekhar Rao Thursday chose to dissolve the Assembly and seek a fresh mandate. The decision brings the curtains down on the first elected governmentinTelanganawhere the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), of which Rao is the founder president, has 82 membersinthe120-strongAssembly. Rao handed over a resolution to dissolve the Assembly to GovernorESLNarasimhan,who accepted the decision and asked Rao to continueascaretaker CM. The Election Commission, in CONTINUED ON PAGE 2 DELHI 2nd Floor, Apsara Arcade, Near Metro Gate 6,1/8 B, Pusa Road, Karol Bagh 635, Opp. Signature View Apartments, Banda Bahadur Marg, Mukherjee Nagar Contact : 8468022022, 9650617807, 9717162595 JAIPUR 9001949244 PUNE 8007500096 HYDERABAD 9000104133 AHMEDABAD 9909447040 LUCKNOW 8468022022

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